ASEAN–Russia Strategic Partnership in the Context of Regional Fragmentation

The strategic partnership between Russia and ASEAN at the time of its formation in 2018 was perceived as an unconditional success of Russian diplomacy in the Asia–Pacific region and a logical continuation of Russia’s Pivot to the East policy. Several years later, however, one can speak about rising difficulties for this type of partnership, not least because of initially inflated expectations. At the time of the formal transition to this status many observers remained optimistic about the parties’ shared strategic vision and willingness to work together to respond to key regional and global challenges, as well as their ability to increase trade and economic cooperation. Over the past years the window of opportunity for Russia and ASEAN to implement their plans has somewhat narrowed.